Grafton Tanner
Auteur van Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave And The Commodification Of Ghosts
Over de Auteur
Grafton Tanner is the author of Babbling Corpse and The Circle of the Snake. His writing on nostalgia, capitalism, and technology has appeared in The Nation and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He is the writer and vocalist for the band Superpuppet.
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Right until I read this book I was only a casual fan of the music genre but Tanner unpacks a lot more from this niche genre, more well-known for its aesthetics revolving around roman/greek sculptures, holographic palettes, glitches and its homage to Japanese anime.
He goes to talk about vaporwave as being a subversive movement to mainstream music, due to how it's created and its underground sensibilities. To make sense of vaporwave and its appeal, he explores postmodernist theories, making sense of the absurdities in vaporwave, where music is often chopped up and rearranged, alienating the listener from the familiar.
He links vaporwave with the ascent of the Internet and its skewing relationship on our sense of time, where the present is always mingling with the past, a 'haunting' which never leaves but always lingers - and its increasingly complicated ramifications on capitalism. By doing so, he turns the microscope on our own perception of value and desires, on what is real and what is not. Copyright issues, ownership of music - who owns what? When we transcend our limitations and make our hopes, dreams, and future possible - and right now, immemorial - is it really a shining path of utopia towards a brighter future, or are we grasping the hands of Hell itself? What is the present, past or even the future if everything is just available, instantaneously?
Reading this made me freak out somewhat, because there's too many galaxy brain moments, but he articulates that 'haunted' feeling really well - particularly in a time where everything is just completely out of control, and when something can seem to be real, when it's not. Think AI, fake news, bots - this book is excellent because it forces us to look at the complex issues surrounding our current society itself. And I was only a casual fan of vaporwave...… (meer)
He goes to talk about vaporwave as being a subversive movement to mainstream music, due to how it's created and its underground sensibilities. To make sense of vaporwave and its appeal, he explores postmodernist theories, making sense of the absurdities in vaporwave, where music is often chopped up and rearranged, alienating the listener from the familiar.
He links vaporwave with the ascent of the Internet and its skewing relationship on our sense of time, where the present is always mingling with the past, a 'haunting' which never leaves but always lingers - and its increasingly complicated ramifications on capitalism. By doing so, he turns the microscope on our own perception of value and desires, on what is real and what is not. Copyright issues, ownership of music - who owns what? When we transcend our limitations and make our hopes, dreams, and future possible - and right now, immemorial - is it really a shining path of utopia towards a brighter future, or are we grasping the hands of Hell itself? What is the present, past or even the future if everything is just available, instantaneously?
Reading this made me freak out somewhat, because there's too many galaxy brain moments, but he articulates that 'haunted' feeling really well - particularly in a time where everything is just completely out of control, and when something can seem to be real, when it's not. Think AI, fake news, bots - this book is excellent because it forces us to look at the complex issues surrounding our current society itself. And I was only a casual fan of vaporwave...… (meer)
We are owned and operated by The Virtual Mall
The concept of vaporwave is a function of franken music. Taking samples of other music, endlessly repeating sounds, words and phrases either spoken or musical, and slapping them all together into an mp3 package, vaporwave can infuriate, bore or be completely ignored. It can have zero musical value, or appear as outright theft. It is a rebellion of sorts against the powerful commercial music establishment that dictates our tastes. To Grafton Tanner, it is the poster child of the decline and fall of western civilization. It is at very least yet another symptom.
Vaporwave music can be created by anyone, alone, with a computer. No musical talent, training or inspiration is necessary, and rarely is any evident. Ironically, the best vaporwave takes a community, a very real group of people to make it work. Unlike the world of social media, these artists actually had to get together. It was a revelation, they say. Beyond this small exception, we find ourselves more and more alone, perhaps followed by a troll online, posting here and there, continually proving there is nothing social about social media.
It all boils down to rampant, uncontrolled capitalism. Capitalism has not delivered us from oppression, Tanner says. We mock it, we vilify it, but it owns us, bores us, and drains us. It is depressingly smothering. Tanner rightly points out that while Americans live in fear of attack, of drugs, of crime. of economic turmoil, of government intrusion – “the culture industry still peddles ludicrous, infantile fantasies”. The standard cinematic diet is of comic superheroes meant for teenage boys in the 1950s. There is so much bad, retrospective music everywhere it is invisible, and some of us have given up on it entirely.
In this brief but densely packed book, Tanner expresses his frustration with a series of pop culture examples and insights on American Kultur. His writing is straightforward, simple, economical and powerful. He acknowledges and appreciates pop culture critics from the Left. His own observations are far clearer and deeper than the usual pabulum of the blogosphere and forum comments. He is perceptive, challenging, and authoritative. His positions are well founded. Thinking is required if you venture here. It was a distinct pleasure to read this little book.
Grafton Tanner is a new voice very much worth listening to.
David Wineberg… (meer)
The concept of vaporwave is a function of franken music. Taking samples of other music, endlessly repeating sounds, words and phrases either spoken or musical, and slapping them all together into an mp3 package, vaporwave can infuriate, bore or be completely ignored. It can have zero musical value, or appear as outright theft. It is a rebellion of sorts against the powerful commercial music establishment that dictates our tastes. To Grafton Tanner, it is the poster child of the decline and fall of western civilization. It is at very least yet another symptom.
Vaporwave music can be created by anyone, alone, with a computer. No musical talent, training or inspiration is necessary, and rarely is any evident. Ironically, the best vaporwave takes a community, a very real group of people to make it work. Unlike the world of social media, these artists actually had to get together. It was a revelation, they say. Beyond this small exception, we find ourselves more and more alone, perhaps followed by a troll online, posting here and there, continually proving there is nothing social about social media.
It all boils down to rampant, uncontrolled capitalism. Capitalism has not delivered us from oppression, Tanner says. We mock it, we vilify it, but it owns us, bores us, and drains us. It is depressingly smothering. Tanner rightly points out that while Americans live in fear of attack, of drugs, of crime. of economic turmoil, of government intrusion – “the culture industry still peddles ludicrous, infantile fantasies”. The standard cinematic diet is of comic superheroes meant for teenage boys in the 1950s. There is so much bad, retrospective music everywhere it is invisible, and some of us have given up on it entirely.
In this brief but densely packed book, Tanner expresses his frustration with a series of pop culture examples and insights on American Kultur. His writing is straightforward, simple, economical and powerful. He acknowledges and appreciates pop culture critics from the Left. His own observations are far clearer and deeper than the usual pabulum of the blogosphere and forum comments. He is perceptive, challenging, and authoritative. His positions are well founded. Thinking is required if you venture here. It was a distinct pleasure to read this little book.
Grafton Tanner is a new voice very much worth listening to.
David Wineberg… (meer)
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DavidWineberg | 2 andere besprekingen | May 29, 2016 |
DavidWineberg | 2 andere besprekingen | May 29, 2016 | Lijsten
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Des de la lluita al voltant dels monuments confederats al naixement de la seguretat de la pàtria i al lament per l’extinció de les espècies, Grafton Tanner rastreja l’ascens de la nostàlgia al segle XXI i en revela el poder com una conseqüència dels nostres temps inestables i alhora una defensa en contra d’ells. Amb poca fe en un futur de canvi climàtic i ansietat econòmica, molta gent ha virat a la nostàlgia per capejar el present, mentre unes elits poderoses l’exploten en benefici propi.… (meer)